Products at Work

January 01, 2006 |

Staff

Elevators will Scale the Comcast Center

ThyssenKrupp Elevator is providing transportation in Philadelphia's newest and tallest skyscraper, the 57-story Comcast Center. The company will install 39 units in the new building, including 30 gearless elevators, seven hydraulic elevators, and two escalators. The building's elevators may have destination dispatch, an elevator control system designed to improve passenger travel and wait time, while also reducing energy consumption.

The 1.2 million-sf Comcast Center will markedly change Philadelphia's skyline, and will rank as the 11th-tallest building in the U.S. at 975 feet. Construction for Comcast Center began in January 2005, and the building is expected to be completed in early 2008. New York architect Robert A.M. Stern designed the center, and Philadelphia-based LF Driscoll Co. is the construction manager.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator

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Fire-Suppression Fluid Saves Delicate Data

With a zero ozone-depletion potential and an atmospheric lifetime of just five days, 3M's Novec 1230 fire-suppression fluid is helping engineers and building specifiers meet halon replacement regulations. Novec 1230 fluid is a fluoroketone (a six-carbon molecule) that dissipates quickly in air so as not to harm data storage centers, libraries, computer labs, and other sensitive environments. Petro Canada is among the companies currently using the fluid to protect its facilities. Novec 1230 is also being used to protect electronics in the Alyeska pipeline system in Alaska.

3M

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Portable Chapel is Almost Entirely Wood

Made nearly entirely out of prefabricated plywood panels and other UPM wood products, this small, portable chapel can be easily transported to wherever a place of worship or sanctuary is needed. The façade is made of painted UPM WISA-SP plywood. The beveled walls are made of water-jet cut WISA-Birch, treated with a semi-transparent stain. The floor is made out of S4S WISA-Lam pine flooring panels.

UPM WISA Wood Products

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Coating is Built for Offshore Structures

Minnesota-based Cortec has created a new coating system specifically for offshore and close-to-shore structures that are regularly exposed to harsh marine environments, such as the Gulf Coast. The CorrVerter system, which offers up to 10 times the anti-corrosion capability of conventional paints and coatings, is already being applied to partially destroyed structures in southern Louisiana. The three-layer application system is a high-solids, water-based latex that has low water vapor permeability. The combination produces a strong foundation in high-humidity and high-salt atmospheres.

Cortec

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Tile Survives Wilma

Total Flooring Contractors of Coral Springs, Fla., finished a 27-acre tile project in Palm Beach Gardens last November, despite Hurricane Wilma. The massive job (tile covered 65,000 sf in 12 buildings throughout the city) was only 90% complete when Wilma struck. All of the tiles were installed with Laticrete mortar, waterproofing, and other products.

Laticrete

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Correction

An item that appeared in this section last month on Alcan Composites' ACM panels incorrectly identified the Madison County Criminal Justice Center in Edwardsville, Ill., where the panels were installed. The panel product's fabricator, Universe Corp. of St. Louis, was also misidentified as the architect. The architect was Lefferson & Associates Inc., Alton, Ill.